Polyvinyl Chloride by a Continuous Suspension Process

The polyvinyl chloride industry has recently increased its interest in the possibility of a continuous process for the suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride. This review presents SRI's technoeconomic evaluation of a 440 million lb/yr (200,000 metric tons/yr) PVC plant using continuous suspension polymerization technology developed by Hoechst AG.

As compared with a conventional batch suspension polymerization plant of the same capacity, there are capital savings in the battery limits investment and in the off-site investment in favor of the continuous suspension process. However, this cost advantage is partly off-set by the higher raw material costs in the continuous suspension process.

(January 1987)